After gaining the support of the State Board of Education in September, TCTA took the final step in a successful fight to prevent expansion of an abbreviated route into teaching at the State Board for Educator Certification's Oct. 5, 2018, meeting.

During testimony, TCTA persuaded the SBEC board to back the original proposal it reviewed in March, ensuring that teacher preparation programs continue to require at least 150 hours of pre-service training for most certificates.

After adopting rule changes increasing the certification requirements for teachers in bilingual or English as a Second Language programs, TEA’s Division of English Learner Support recently issued a statement to clear up some common misconceptions regarding the requirements, chiefly that not all English language arts and reading teachers need to obtain ESL certification to meet the new regulations. ﻿TEA is also allowing districts to seek waivers from the certification requirements during the 2018-19 school year.

U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Richard Neal
(D-MA) have re-filed a late-session bill (H.R. 6933) that would revise the calculation of benefits for Texas teachers and other employees who are currently subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision. The bill also was filed in the Senate by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as S. 3526.

Given that Congress is in its last several weeks of the current congressional session, the bills are unlikely to progress.

The Texas Education Agency is seeking educators to work with its contractor, Safal Partners, to review English language arts and reading instructional materials in grades 3-8 to evaluate their quality.

Selected reviewers will receive a stipend upon successfully completing the review process as well as intensive training and ongoing professional development for which they will earn continuing professional education credit. Eligible applicants must apply by Oct. 22.

A paraprofessional's job was terminated after more than 20 years of service to a district based on allegations that she used excessive force with a male student during three separate incidents over a period of nine days. The incidents were captured on a hallway monitoring camera.

The paraprofessional filed a grievance, arguing that even though she was an at-will employee without a contract, she was protected from termination in this instance due to a state law that says that a professional employee of a school district may not be subject to discipline, termination or nonrenewal for use of force when and to the degree reasonably necessary to further an educational purpose or maintain discipline. The district’s board of trustees denied the grievance. The paraprofessional then filed an appeal to the commissioner of education, who sided with the district.

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced that 23 schools nominated by the Texas Education Agency have been awarded Blue Ribbon honors for 2018.

Founded in 1982, Blue Ribbon Schools is a USDE program that recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools where students perform at very high levels or where exemplary progress has been made toward closing achievement gaps among subpopulations while maintaining high achievement levels among all students.

The federal STOP grants, worth $1 million each, will be used for mental health training in Texas school districts, Morath said. The funds also will help establish effective campus threat assessment practices across the state. The Justice Department plans to distribute $70 million in grants to help with school security and training educators in hopes of preventing violence on school campuses.